[accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine

Re the dream machine capable of producing tactile graphics (text too).
1. It would be a desktop-sized printer with scan capability.
2. Scanner would come with software that's also capable of OCR (optical
character recognition) and auto-translation from standard print to Braille
or vice-versa.
3. Ink would be some type of polymer based substrate able to be deposited in
varying heights and widths.
4. Ink would be colored, perhaps starting with primary colors of red,
yellow, blue, green, black, and white.
5. Ink substrate would be able to hold embedded spherical beads of varying
sizes. 
6. Spherical beads would be sized according to a standard to represent the
aforementioned colors (tricky, but do-able, I think), thus producing a
textured finish congruent with the color of the ink.
7. Potential customers would be publishers, government agencies, schools at
P-12 and higher ed levels, businesses, etc. as well as individuals, which
would make it easier to keep the price low (a relative term).
 
Respectfully,
Jimmie Flanagin, M.A., A.T.P.
Alternate Media Coordinator
Disability Resource Center
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
 

"The only general pedagogic maxim bearing on attention is that the more
interest the child has in advance in the subject, the better he will attend.
Induct him therefore in such a way as to knit each new thing on to some
acquisition already there; and if possible awaken curiosity, so that the new
thing shall seem to come as an answer, or part of an answer, to a question
pre-existing in his mind."

(William James, 1890.)

-----Original Message-----
From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
jhqbraille@xxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 3:17 AM
To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine


Nadeen:
 
TI once explained to me that they could not waste time (paraphrased)
researching adapting a large print graphing scientific calculator like the
TI83 for 2% of the population!  The cost outweighs the profit---or the price
would be so high no one can afford it.  (BTW, If anyone in their spare time
has developed such a device, I would love to hear about it.  Obviously, they
aren't going to do it.)
 
The problem that I see is that device research did go on (20 years ago) and
needs to be compensated, but at what point is the company satisfied with
their (already gained) profit and then turn to the moralistic needs of the
special population.  Some of these devices have been on the market forever
and no price drop.  They are no longer paying for their past costs and just
reaping the benefits now.  It's a capitalistic society and attitude.  I'd
like to get the actual cost of making a device from start to finish---all
man hours---and really see the price difference in ten years.  Bet there
isn't one.  We could see all that difference in microwaves to the present
projector televisions to computers to just about anything for the general
population.  Why not us?
 
J :)
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Friends of the Blind Association <fblind@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, 24 May 2006 09:32:41 +0200
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine


Dear accessibleimage list users,

First of all I want to thank all users in the list.

I want really to add one thing about all devices used to serve visually

impaired people and to be considered in future: (Price) I wish to be all

aids cheaper than the current price; to be available to all students and

people.

I don't know the reason for it's huge price?!!!



Regards

Nadeen Badran

Computer Department

--

Friends of the Blind Association

Ramallah, Palestine

Web page: http://www.fblind.org

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Chris Hofstader" <chris.hofstader@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:chris.hofstader%40knology.net> >

To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org>
>

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:03 PM

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Will, since December, my AccessWorld, CHI 2006 articles and my chapter in

Helal's upcoming book have all been about breaking the boundaries of

serialized information for blinks.  This is almost all I think about when I

don't have to think about making money or engineering projects.  It all

comes down to games.  Greenwood is, in audio, demonstrating that one can use

both focal and peripheral attention to perform complex tasks far more

efficiently than anything like the serialized world of current assistive

technology.  I think I have enough notes together for an article on the

theory you and I have discussed about using motion as the key to delivering

a lot of semantic information simultaneously.  I've taken it all a bit

further and now include issues regarding long and short term memory and

other topics which fall more into your area than mine as they are more about

psychology and neuroscience than about rehabilitation science and

technology.



I've built a bunch of software examples (including the geometric shapes that

we've discussed) plus some more interactive examples and think I'm pretty

close to something pretty damned exciting.



I'm heading to Asia in August and one of my tasks there will be to set up a

lab where my experimental framework can be tested.  I know it's sort of

cheating but I don't need to jump through all of the hoops to get an IRB in

the states or equivalent in the EU.  I can, beyond a shadow of a doubt, be

entirely confident that my experiments, even if they go entirely awry,

cannot hurt my human subjects anymore than an X-Box beta tester and MS

doesn't need to go through the effort to ensure they are "protecting human

subjects" who volunteer to beta test their software.



In Asia, I can have a team of graduate students working for peanuts and the

local blindness agency will provide me with the test subjects for free.

We'll probably run the experiments in Autumn.



Based upon the anecdotal results, I think I may actually have stumbled on

something fairly profound.  If my experiments work, you psychology types

will probably have to do some work to explain why they work.  This is my

hacker mind coming to the foreground.  Well before the computer scientists

ever figure out the theory, we've been using the technique.  It's why all of

those security jocks have to do a post mortem to figure out how some clever

high school kid cracked their system.



-----Original Message-----

From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> 

[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> ] On Behalf Of Will Pearson

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:38 PM

To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org> 

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Hi Chris,



Thanks for coming up with some applications.  I was really thinking in terms



of line drawing, and at an abstract, implementation neutral, level.  Adding

some applications has made me think about this some more.



I think this comes back to my old friend serialisation.  In some tasks, such



as the example of establishing the distance between two points, each point

can be selected in a serial manner, requiring only a single point of input

to be in use at any one time.  Stretching objects is an interesting example,



and one where I concede that multiple points of interest could be useful.

Given a situation where an object is required to be stretched to a specific

size, although both points can be stretched in a non-uniform manner,

multiple points of input would be advantageous.    This could be achieved

serially, but it would be harder.  The first step would be to calculate the

position of the first point, and then move that point to that position.

Moving the second side is easier, and would be a case of altering the

spatial relationships of the second point so that it occupied the desired

distance from the first point.



Will

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Chris Hofstader" <chris.hofstader@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:chris.hofstader%40knology.net> >

To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org>
>

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 4:14 PM

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Multiple input points will provide a user with the functionality of

announcing the distance between to points in millimeters, inches, miles or

kilometers (on a map), and any number of very valuable measurements that can

only be known by the application that handles the scaling and presentation.

Thus, if one is augmenting a map to their house generated by MapPoint, they

can do so with some degree of precision.  Also, if they are a kid doing a

drawing for dad they need to make sure it fits on the blank father's day

card stock that the rest of the kids are using in class.  So, I think that

having more than one point of input is very important.



Taking the whole concept from drawing into a tactile graphic system for

science and mathematics the user, with multiple input points, can, with

their hands, "stretch" a curve with far greater precision if the program

they use can provide them with x/y/z points relative to one or more other

points that they can make with spare fingers.



-----Original Message-----

From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> 

[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> ] On Behalf Of Will Pearson

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 8:17 AM

To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org> 

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Hi Chris,



Whilst multiple points of input aren't necessary for drawing, the technique

typically only uses a single point of input with the other points being for

reference, I can see some benefit in multiple input points.  Sticking with

the topic of drawing, the additional input points could be used to alter

state, similar to the manner in which alt, ctrl, shift, etc. alter state on

a keyboard.  This would allow someone to use the same finger motion, or

motion of an input device, to semantically indicate different actions based

on the state of the system, determined by other input points.



Whilst not necessary, multiple input points do make for an interesting

addition, and therefore Apple could potentially deny people the opportunity

to explore these possibilities, as they have attempted to do with

possibilities in the past.  Is the LPF still active?  If so, you may have

found another convert.



Will

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Chris Hofstader" <chris.hofstader@xxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:chris.hofstader%40knology.net> >

To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org>
>

Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 9:23 PM

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Apple has recently announced that they have filed for a patent on a

multi-point touch screen which can probably solve half of the problem by

providing multiple simultaneous hot spots.  As far as reasonably priced

tactile output is concerned, there is a group called orbital (I think) doing

some very interesting work which, I hear, has come a long way since I saw it

a few years ago.  If one can "marry" these technologies, full page

interactive Braille and graphics might be possible in a profitable product

that could sell for under $1500.  I think we're at least three years out

before this can be a reality but adding touch input to tactile output (both

technologies are flexible and neither seems entirely incompatible with the

other) might not have the financial backing to move it forward.



Apple, in spite of their meager screen reader, isn't too friendly too blind

people or technologies related to blindness but they do love licensing

patents and a multipoint touch technology can find homes well beyond

anything they care to do.  Orbital is small, venture funded and very

aggressive so they want to license things everywhere.





-----Original Message-----

From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> 

[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:accessibleimage-bounce%40freelists.org> ] On Behalf Of Tina E

Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 1:03 PM

To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:accessibleimage%40freelists.org> 

Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Dream Machine





Hey there to all,



My dream machine would also incorporate a touch tablet feature for

input and tactual output, where we could draw lines, select areas for

fills, and so on, by touching spots with fingertips, and then, well,

doing something to signal that a point-and-click should occur.



It should also allow for erasures, or slight re-draws, if finger-drawn

input hasn't been to one's exact liking.



Tina E

Please feel free to visit my blog,

Tina's Virtual BackPack:

http://tvbp.wordpress.com

tina-e@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:tina-e%40qwest.net>

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